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Justin Hughes
Justin is a biotech entrepreneur and former Red Arrows pilot, performing over 250 displays worldwide. He is a renowned speaker on a range of related topics including leadership, building high-performance teams, decision-making under ambiguity, and performance in high-risk environments. Since leaving the RAF, Justin has worked as a strategic adviser on organizational eGectiveness to clients including Microsoft, the United Nations and Mercedes Formula 1. He is the author of The Business of Excellence, has been profiled in the London Standard, Director Magazine, the Daily Telegraph and the Independent, and interviewed for BBC World ‘Talking Business’, BBC Breakfast and GB News.
About Justin Hughes
Justin is the CEO of biotech/climate startup NetZeroNitrogen. Combining that with turnaround experience as a senior corporate executive, and as a former fighter pilot and Executive OGicer of the Red Arrows, Justin has ‘skin in the game’ when it comes to building high-performance cultures. He is a renowned speaker on a range of related topics including leadership, building high-performance teams, decision-making under ambiguity, and performance in high-risk environments. Delivery options include keynotes, facilitation and workshops and he has extensive experience with diverse audiences in the US, Europe, the Middle and Far East, and China.
Justin brings an unusual combination of a highly engaging delivery style and clear, actionable insights based on first-hand knowledge of the most demanding operating environments. His passion for high performance evolved from his military experience, flying in over 250 displays worldwide on the Red Arrows. Justin’s BETTUR (Better Understanding of Reality) model is based on personal learning of how you plan, execute and adapt in situations characterised by ambiguity, imperfect information, speed of change and pressure to deliver.
Since leaving the RAF, Justin has worked as a strategic adviser on organisational eGectiveness to clients including Microsoft, the United Nations and Mercedes Formula 1, and he is a regular contributor to BP’s global Leading in Operations programme. He is the author of The Business of Excellence (Bloomsbury, 2016), has been profiled in the London Standard, Director Magazine, the Daily Telegraph and the Independent, and interviewed for BBC World ‘Talking Business’, BBC Breakfast and GB News.
As a result of some intellectual mid-life crisis, Justin has an MBA from London Business School and an MSt in International Relations from the University of Cambridge (both Distinctions). For the latter, he planned a thesis on pandemics but thought nobody would be interested (in 2017!), and instead analysed the threat posed by cryptocurrency to the financial order; he is currently sitting on a return of 1000%; unfortunately he only bought $30.
High Performance Cultures/Teams
Highly engaging introduction to the key drivers of high-performance cultures based on 20y+ entrepreneurial and corporate experience, preceded by 12y as a fighter pilot and Executive Officer of the Red Arrows (250 displays).
Take-aways:
• Hire on attitude AND skill, but if you had to choose…
• Communicate not just what, but why
• Know what ball you can’t aDord to drop
• Build an environment where people have the REAL conversations
Leadership
At its heart, leadership is about exhibiting a set of behaviours such that others choose to follow you of their own free will. If they follow for a diDerent reason, it’s probably seniority (ie they have to – that’s not leadership). It’s bringing people on the journey with you and is distinct from working out the journey and the ability to execute.
Take-aways:
• Leadership is primarily a moral and emotional activity
• Managers are inevitably placed in the middle of wanting to be good people leaders but getting
measured solely on task delivery
• You will be judged on what you stand for in diDicult situations
Risk
Managing risk at a strategic level is about dealing with ambiguity. To do so, we need to gain a ‘better understanding of reality’ by mitigating cognitive and motivational biases. The most powerful tool to do this is to leverage the cognitive diversity of the team more effectively.
Take-aways:
• We’re not as good as applying judgement as we like to think
• However, awareness of subconscious biases and tools to address can help significantly
• The ‘crowd’ is generally wise but only when there is an eDective process to extract that collective wisdom
Decision-Making
Good decision-making under pressure is not genius; it’s largely due to thought and preparation. We need to equip people with the decision-making tools and then empower them (ie not blame them for adverse outcomes) to use them.
Take-aways:
• Pre-plan responses to predictable situations
• Use dynamic rehearsal to prepare for semi-predictable situations
• For the completely unpredictable, know what ball you can’t aDord to drop
Resilience
Resilience is not magic or just in some people’s DNA. For sure, some will be more naturally resilient, just like some are more natural leaders. However, everybody’s ability to ride out hard times and perform under pressure can be enhanced through the right mindset and the use of mental models and tools.
Take-aways:
• Believe that you will prevail in the long-term, but deal objectively with your short-term reality
• Stress test the assumptions behind your thinking
• Reframe the situation based on more realistic assessment
Justin Hughes Videos
Testimonials
"Justin is one of a rare breed of speakers who absolutely engages and captivates an audience, providing clear takeaways to action straight away into positive business results. I am certain that the impact and motivation from Justin was a factor in a record performance this month. An outstanding person with world-class ability to bring excellence to life."
Harrington Starr
"We have had many leadership interventions before, but Justin was in a class of his own"
Commercial Bank of Qatar
"I am writing to thank you most warmly for your presentation at the recent ASIS UK Winter Seminar. The feedback has been little short of sensational and is still the talking point of the day! You absolutely nailed what we were looking for. Thank you so much for delivering such a thought provoking and interactive session."
ASIS International
"Justin delivered a very pragmatic insight into business excellence with the key take away for the team being the importance of debriefing and learning from what we have done. We have implemented this in every single operational meeting and our first half year performance has been excellent, exceeding our expectations when it comes to the number of patients treated with our medicines and subsequently exceeding our first half year corporate objectives."
Oncology Business Group
"A year on and we still use the language and some of the principles"
Maersk Deutschland
"Feedback was massively positive and some of the best we’ve had"
Fujitsu Services
"Justin’s preparation and professionalism in mastering the virtual format was a key factor in the great success of our first online event for senior clients (he even motivated my son to do his maths homework in a pre-call!)."
KPMG
